Computer Tools

Andrew Irwin, a.irwin@dal.ca

2026-01-13

What computing tools will we learn?

• R

• Rstudio

• ggplot

• tidyverse

• Quarto / Rmarkdown

• git

• GitHub

Why are we learning to use these tools?

• Powerful set of tools for data analysis and visualization, communication, maintenance and dissemination

• Widely used and actively developed

• Will eventually be displaced by new methods

• Core principles are long-lived and will be useful for decades

R

Figure 1: R screenshot

Rstudio

Figure 2: Rstudio screenshot

Grammar of Graphics

Figure 3: ggplot2 screenshot

tidyverse

Figure 4: tidyverse screenshot

Quarto

Figure 5: Rmarkdown screenshot. Can also use Quarto.

git

Figure 6: git screenshot

GitHub

Figure 7: github screenshot

Homework

Read Healy, Sections 2.1-2.4:

• Why and how to use quarto (R markdown), R/Rstudio, projects.
• The basics of R and being patient as you learn computing tasks.

Make a list of about 10 key takeaway messages from the reading.